Olivia S. Mitchell Faculty Profile

Olivia S. Mitchell
International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor; Professor of Insurance and Risk Management and Business and Public Policy
Executive Director, Pension Research Council; Director, Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research

PhD, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1978; MA, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1976; BA, Harvard University,1974

Research Areas
Economics of public and private pensions; international private and social insurance; employee benefits and compensation; risk and crisis management; health/retirement analysis and policy; labor economics and public finance

Recent Consulting
ESRI and RIETI, Japanese Government; InterAmerican Development Bank; U.S. Social Security Administration; U.S. Government Accounting Office; U.S. Treasury; World Bank

Current Projects
Global social security and pension reform; retirement, wealth, and health; annuities and health insurance.

Academic Positions Held
Wharton: 1993-present (named International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans Professor and Executive Director, Pension Research Council, 1993; Director, Boettner Center for Pensions and Retirement Research, 2003-present). Previous appointments: Cornell University; Harvard University. Visiting appointment: University of New South Wales, Australia; Goethe Universitat of Frankfurt; Celia Moh Visiting Professor, Singapore Management University

Other Positions
Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research

Career and Recent Professional Awards; Teaching Awards
Doctorate (Honorary), University of St. Gallen; INA International Prize for Insurance Sciences from the Instituto Nazionale Delle Assicurazioni/Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei; TIAA-CREF/Paul A. Samuelson Award for Outstanding Scholarly Writing on Lifelong Financial Security; Various research awards and grants for research on retirement and pension economics

Professional Leadership 2003-2007
Co-PI for Health and Retirement Study; Executive Committee, Michigan Retirement Research Center; Advisory Board, Singapore Central Provident Fund; Advisory Committee, Centre for Pensions and Superannuation, University of New South Wales; Advisory Board Netspar, Netherlands; Board of Editors, Journal of Pension Economics and Finance; Board of Editors, Journal of Pensions Management; Board of Editors, Industrial and Labor Relations Review; Senior Fellow, Wharton Financial Institutions Center; Senior Fellow, Leonard Davis Institute.

Corporate and Public Sector Leadership 2003-2007
Executive Committee, American Economic Association; Trustee of the Wells Fargo Advantage Trust Boards; Central Provident Fund Advisory Board of Singapore

Representative Publications
(with B. Madrian and B. Soldo)
Redefining Retirement. Oxford University Press (2007).

(with D. Blitzstein and S. Utkus)
Restructuring Retirement Risks. Oxford University Press, 2006.

(with R. Clark)
Reinventing the Retirement Paradigm. Oxford University Press, 2005.

(with S. Utkus)
Pension Design and Structure: New Lessons from Behavioral Finance. Oxford University Press, 2004.

(with B. Koh, T. Tanuwidjaja and J. Fong.)
“Investment Patterns in Singapore’s CPF Central Provident Fund.” Journal of Pension Economics and Finance (forthcoming).

(with Horneff, Wolfram, R. Maurer, and I. Dus)
“Following the Rules: Integrating Asset Allocation and Annuitization in Retirement Portfolios." Insurance: Mathematics and Economics (Forthcoming).

(with A. Lusardi)
“Baby Boomer Retirement Security: The Roles of Planning, Financial Literacy, and Housing Wealth.” Journal of Monetary Economics (January 2007).

(with H. Jin and J. Piggott)
“Socially Responsible Investment in Japanese Pensions.” Pacific-Basin Finance Journal (November 2006). Lead article.

(with A. Muermann and J. Volkman)
“Regret, Portfolio Choice, and Guarantees in Defined Contribution Schemes.” Insurance: Mathematics and Economics (2006).

(with J. Piggott, M. Sherris, and S. Yow)
“Financial Innovations for an Aging World.” Demography and Financial Markets, C. Kent, A. Park, D. Rees, eds. Pegasus Press (2006).

(with I. Dus and R. Maurer)
“Betting on Death and Capital Markets in Retirement: A Shortfall Risk Analysis of Life Annuities versus Phased Withdrawal Plans.” Financial Services Review (2005). Lead article.